ormation than that about the person who
sent these letters."

"What, for instance?" asked Baker and Mrs. Morton in a breath.

"Well, in the first place, this woman was able to secure possession of a
photograph of Miss Morton." He took the hideously distorted picture from
his pocket. "Do either of you know where this photograph was made?"

Mrs. Morton examined the picture with a shudder. Then she rose, went to
a cabinet at the other end of the room, and took out an album. Returning
to the table, she placed the book before her, and began to turn the
pages. In a few moments she found what she was looking for, a duplicate
of the likeness which lay before them, with the exception, of course, of
its frightful distortions.

"This picture was made by Gibson, on Fifth Avenue," she said, referring
to the photograph in the book. Both Baker and Duvall saw at once that on
the retouched picture, the name of the photographer had been scratched
off.

"How many of them were made, and what became of them?" Duvall asked
quickly.

"Ordinarily I could not answer such a question," Mrs. Morton replied,
"for Ruth has had many photographs taken, and we have not of course kept
a record of them, or what has become of them, but in this particular
case I happen to remember that she did not like the pose particularly,
and ordered but half a dozen. I do not think that she gave any of them
away. If I am right in my supposition, there should be five more here in
the apartment." Closing the book, Mrs. Morton went to the cabinet again,
and took out a portfolio containing numberless photographs of her
daughter in all sorts of poses.

After some searching, she produced a brown-paper envelope, containing a
number of pictures, all taken by the same photographer, at the same
time. There were in the envelope four copies of the photograph, the
fifth of which was contained in the album.

"Evidently one has been given away," Duvall exclaimed. "Now if we can
only find out to whom, our search for the writer of these letters may be
very quickly ended."

Mr. Baker regarded them both with a puzzled look.

"I have seen that picture before," he said, "and of course I could not
have done so, had I not seen the one that is missing." He sat for a
while in silence, searching his recollection for a solution of the
problem. Suddenly he spoke. "There was a picture like that in my office,
at one time," he exclaimed. "Miss Morton sent a number down, for
advertising